Christian Ethical Foundations of Modern Nursing in China

ABSTRACT

The influence of Western Christian missionary nurses has been recorded in the history and development of nursing in China. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of Christianity on Chinese nursing ethics. This documentary research used content analysis to investigate Christian value trends over 13 years (1920-1932) as reflected in a major bilingual Chinese nursing journal.

The power of the 'universal': caste and missionary medical discourses of alcoholism in the Telugu print sphere, 1900-1940

This article explores missionary medical discourses in three Telugu journals published in the early twentieth century, to analyse how caste pivoted denunciations of alcohol, especially toddy and arrack, in the Madras Presidency and the Hyderabad state. It argues that one women's missionary journal, Vivekavathi, deployed medical knowledge to formulate subtle and occasionally explicit condemnations of toddy and arrack as unclean and unhealthy substances. The journal relied on universal medical and missionary, British and American knowledge frameworks to mark out Dalits and other marginalised castes as consumers of these local beverages. This stigma was conjured through medical narratives of marginalised castes as lacking in the knowledge of alcohol's relation to digestion, toddy's role in ruining maternal and child nutrition, the unhygienic environment of arrack shops and their propensity to 'alcoholism'. However, this article also traces counter-caste voices who too invoked 'the power of the universal' to dispel caste stigma against marginalised castes. While both sets of voices deployed medical 'enslavement' to alcohol as an interpretive move, they differed in their social imperatives and political imaginaries, defined in caste terms. This article explores a third set of implications of the term 'universal' by analysing global medico-missionary narratives of alcohol in two other Telugu journals. On a methodological plane, this article also pushes for a hybrid reading of what counts for 'scientific instruction', where hymns, catechisms, parables and allegories are considered alongside conventional scientific experiments. In that sense, it upholds vernacular missionary publications as an invaluable resource for the social history of medicine.

Language as a Specimen

Language was never studied by linguists (or philologists) alone. The greater part of the languages of the world was first known in the West through the reports of missionaries, explorers, and colonial administrators, and what they documented reflected their specific interests. Missionaries wrote catechisms, primers, dictionaries, and Bible translations (especially Lord's Prayers); for explorers and administrators, language was one aspect among many to cover in their accounts of faraway regions. Peoples were identified by their language; toponyms served for geographic description; names of plants and animals were gathered together with specimens and images of plants and animals. In this context, linguistic materials were equally described as "specimens." This article investigates the various ways in which language material was used and conceived of as a specimen, and the global trajectories of these "specimens." Especially the role of naturalist explorers deserves closer attention in this regard. What they did, throughout the late 18^th and 19^th century, was gathering language material as one kind of specimen among others, Forster in the Pacific, Humboldt, Martius, and d'Orbigny in South America, and Peters in Mozambique. Two large-scale expeditions from the mid-19^th century stand out as examples: the U.S. Exploring Expedition (1838-1842), whose collections later filled the Smithsonian Institution, and the Austrian-Hungarian Novara expedition (1857-1859).

Language, Science and Globalization in the Eighteenth Century

Asia, America, and Europe have been intellectually intertwined for centuries. Several studies have been published revealing European scholars' interest in the "exotic" languages of Asia and America, as well as in ethnographic and anthropological aspects. Some scholars such as Polymath Leibniz (1646-1716), were interested in these languages in an attempt to construct a universal language, while others tried to establish language families, like the Jesuit Hervás y Panduro (1735-1809). However, all acknowledge the importance of language and the circulation of knowledge. This paper analyzes the dissemination of the compilation of eighteenth-century multilingual lexical compilations for comparative purposes as an early globalized project. These compilations were designed by European scholars and subsequently elaborated in different languages by missionaries, explorers, and scientists in the Philippines and America. Taking the correspondence and relations between botanist Mutis (1732-1808) and bureaucrats, European scientists such as polymath Humboldt (1769-1859) and Botanist Linnaeus (1707-1778) among others, and navy officers of the scientific exploration commanded by Malaspina (1754-1809) and Bustamante y Guerra (1759-1825) into consideration, I will analyze how simultaneous projects followed a unified aim, and illustrate their substantial contribution to the study of language in the late eighteenth century.

Missionaries of Light and Progress in Mexico: Engineers and Technological Pilgrims Craft Necaxa Falls, 1890s-1914

Beginning in 1905, American and European reporters, writers, and artists made pilgrimages to the hydroelectric Necaxa complex in southern Mexico. For the fossil-hungry Mexican nation, advances in hydraulic engineering had made the vision of an electrical-powered industrial future not just desirable but also feasible. North Atlantic water technicians set out to redesign rivers that would power an electrified Mexico. Necaxa was no small, remote project. Its numerous innovations commanded the world's attention, which foreign writers used to recast European and North American ambitions. Through their accounts, these "technological pilgrims" turned Necaxa into a global hydropower imaginary. With foreign engineers in the leading roles, their romanticized narratives rhetorically naturalized the redesign of rivers and the enabling power relations. This article applies a sociotechnical imaginary lens and Necaxa as the case study to show the centrality of rhetorical frames paving the way for new energy technologies.

[A statistical measurement of diseases recorded in The Quarterly Reports of the Ophthalmic Hospital at Canton]

The Quarterly Reports of the Ophthalmic Hospital at Canton written by Rev. Peter Parker, an American protestant missionary in China, were serialised in The Chinese Repository from 1836 to 1850. Each report provided the number of patients treated in the corresponding period and described in detail the treatment of diseases which were difficult to deal with. However, due to historical conditions, these reports were inconsistent in terms of the disease classification standards, let alone the statistical deficiencies. This paper aims to regroup the diseases recorded in the 15 reports according to the classification from the eleventh to fifteenth report and recount the patient number of each disease systematically in different periods, with reliable historical data to support such relevant studies as the history of the Ophthalmic Hospital at Canton and the introduction of Western Medicine into China and the development of International Classification of Diseases.

Ida Belle Scudder and Ketayun Ardeshir Dinshaw: The two iconic women who shaped the face of radiation oncology in India

The early twentieth century India saw profound paucity in health care delivery and education, and the beliefs of people were ruled mainly by ignorance, superstitions and myths. Diseases like cancer and its treatment were totally unknown during that time in India. Dr Ida Belle Scudder, American woman, came to India to break all norms and sacrificed her entire life to work in a missionary hospital. Gradually she trained herself to treat cancer patients and established a fully equipped radiotherapy centre to treat such patients. Later, the field of radiation oncology was transformed and modernised by another influential woman, Dr Ketayun Ardeshir Dinshaw, who with her leadership attributes left no stone unturned to firmly establish the role of radiation in the management of cancer and bringing its benefits to the people of India.

The transit of plants: circulation of medical knowledge and practices in South America during the Modern Era

From records on plants and herbs made by doctors, healers, missionaries, and colonial administrators in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, this article explores ways of constructing knowledge about flora using the concept of circulation proposed by Kapil Raj. The distinct experiences and documents analyzed demonstrate the process of observing, collecting, systematizing, and circulating knowledge, and the influence of natural history and the Hippocratic tradition on the classification of herbs and plants and on the descriptions adopted in these texts. From printed books to notes scattered through travel diaries, usefulness of these species to humankind was the element valued by those who directly observed the potential of American plants, fruits, and herbs.

The Health Care System Debate and the Health Care Policy of a Unified Nation Immediately after the Liberation

Immediately after the liberation, the health care system debate was studied focusing on the orientation of the American and Soviet medical systems, roughly divided into Lee Yong-seol and Choi Eung-seok. However, the existence of people who are not explained in the American and Soviet health care systems' orientation led to the need to reconsider the existing premise. Therefore, this study identifies the characters that were not explained in the perspective of existing studies, and reevaluates the arguments of Lee Yong-seol and Choi Eung-seok. This paper raises the following questions: First, what is the background of the policy orientation that Lee Yong-seol and Choi Eung-seok had? Second, if there are people who made different arguments from Lee Yong-seol and Choi Eung-seok, what direction did they set and argue? third, how the orientations of Lee Yong-seol and Choi Eung-seok and etc. converge into the answer to the Joint Soviet-American Commission? In response to theses questions, this study confirms the following: first, Lee Yong-seol's and Choi Eung-seok's health care policies were established based on realism and empiricism. As a policyholder, Lee Yong-seol emphasized withholding medical state administration and raising the level of medical education and medical systems according to the condition at that time, although the American system was mobilized by Lee as the basis for his judgment and administrative assets. On the other hand, Choi Eung-seok aimed for a Soviet-style systems in health care but this was realistically put on hold. Choi insisted on the establishment of the Medical Service Associations and rural cooperative hospitals that appeared in Japan's medical socialization movement. In summary, immediately after the liberation, Lee Yong-seol's and Choi Eung-seok's policy arguments were based on policies that could be implemented in Korea, and the American system and Soviet system served as criteria for the policy resources. Second, Jeong Gu-chung and Kim Yeon-ju show that the topography of the health care debate immediately after the liberation was not represented only by Lee Yong-seol and Choi Eung-seok. Both Jeong and Kim were consequently led to medical socialization, which was the implementation of a health care system that encompasses social reform, but the context was different. Jeong drew the hierarchy of the health care system, which peaked in the United States, from the perspective of social evolution based on his eugenics, but the representation suitable for Korea was the Soviet model absorbed into his understanding. On the contrary, Kim argued that representations suitable for Korea should be found in Korea. As national medical care, Kim's idea aimed at a medical state administration that provides equal opportunities for all Koreans. Third, the aspect of convergence to the Joint Soviet-American Commission reply proposal was complicated. Among the policies of Lee Yong-seol, the promotion of missionary medical institutions and the gradual planning of medical institutions converged into the three organizations' proposal, and Choi Eung-seok's policy was almost the same as that of the Democracy National Front and the South Korean Labor Party. However, the medical system of Japan, the colonial home country, appears to have been based on Lee Gap-soo, chairman of the Korean Medical Association in the colonial period, and the plan was in line with the use of the union system of the left-wing organizations' proposal in the south. It was in accordance with a common task to expand health care from colonial conditions to different status.

The Work of Oliver R. Avison in Comparison to that of Albert Schweitzer from a Post-Colonial Perspective

Compared to Nobel Prize Laureate Albert Schweitzer, Oliver R. Avison is not well known. Seeking to achieve more international recognition for Avison, this article elaborates on Avison's work with hospital and educational institutions from a post-colonial perspective. Schweitzer and Avison each wrote their memoires in an autobiographical style, and this article deals primarily with those writings, which are published under the titles Out of My Life and Thought by Schweitzer and The Land of the Morning Calm by Avison. Schweitzer and Avison were contemporaries and worked in medical service in the colonial period. Thus, they have certain commonalities. However, this article will elaborate on how Avison approached his mission differently in order to promote sustainability, equality and subjectivity in his work. Avison carried out more than mere charity work, he also accomplished sustainable development of his hospital, as well as its affiliated educational institution. The current circumstances of Severance Hospital and Yonsei University in Korea, compared to that of the Albert Schweitzer Hospital in Lambaréné, are clear evidence of this. Avison's extraordinary missionary work did not reflect the more negative side effects of colonial heritage intertwined with mission work in the 19th Century. Avison's case should be better known as a model of ecumenical mission towards sustainable development.

Trading zones in a colony: Transcultural techniques at missionary stations in the Dutch East Indies, 1860 - 1940

Global histories of technology tend to tell one-sided stories of transfer and exploitation, and they usually analyze the activities of large corporations, nation states or the military. By focusing on missionary societies in the colonial era, this article tells a different story. On the basis of primary sources from German missionaries in the Dutch East Indies, it shows how the application of various techniques at missionary stations was the outcome of transcultural interaction. Although missionaries brought with them tools and materials from home, they remained dependent on the knowledge and skills of local artisans, as well as the material and goods the locals provided. Missionaries' wives tried to uphold a Western lifestyle but found themselves using local household technologies. The missionary station was a trading zone: Although the abilities of Europeans and Asians to communicate were socially and linguistically limited, they proved able to exchange information and skills in a successful manner. By revisiting the anthropological background to Galison's trading zone, the authors re-appropriate this concept to improve our understanding of cross-cultural exchange in non-scientific settings.

Exchange of medicinal plant information in California missions

BACKGROUND

Missions were established in California in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to convert Native Americans to Christianity and enculturate them into a class of laborers for Californios (Spanish/Mexican settler). The concentration of large numbers of Native Americans at the Missions, along with the introduction of European diseases, led to serious disease problems. Medicinal supplies brought to California by the missionaries were limited in quantity. This situation resulted in an opportunity for the sharing of knowledge of medicinal plants between the Native Americans and the Mission priests. The purpose of this study is to examine the degree to which such sharing of knowledge took place and to understand factors that may have influenced the sharing of medicinal knowledge. The study also examines the sharing of medicinal knowledge between the Native Americans and the Californios following the demise of the California Missions.

METHODS

Two methods were employed in the study: (1) a comparison of lists of medicinal plants used by various groups (e.g., Native American, Mission priests, Californios) prior to, during, and after the Mission period and (2) a close reading of diaries, reports, and books written by first-hand observers and modern authorities to find accounts of and identify factors influencing the exchange of medicinal information.

RESULTS

A comparison of the lists of medicinal plants use by various groups indicated that only a small percentage of medicinal plants were shared by two or more groups. For example, none of the 265 taxa of species used by the Native Americans in pre-Mission times were imported into Spain for medicinal use and only 16 taxa were reported to have been used at the Missions. A larger sharing of information of medicinal plants took place in the post-Mission period when Native Americans were dispersed from the Missions and worked as laborers on the ranches of the Californios.

CONCLUSIONS

Sharing of information concerning medicinal plants did occur during the Mission period, but the number of documented species was limited. A number of possible factors discouraged this exchange. These include (1) imbalance of power between the priests and the Native Americans, (2) suppression of indigenous knowledge and medical practices by the Mission priests, (3) language barriers, (4) reduction of availability of medicinal herbs around the Mission due to introduced agricultural practices, (5) desire to protect knowledge of medicinal herbs by Native American shaman, (6) administrative structure at the Missions which left little time for direct interaction between the priests and individual Native Americans, (7) loss of knowledge of herbal medicine by the Native Americans over time at the Missions, and (8) limited transportation opportunities for reciprocal the shipment of medicinal plants between California and Spain. Three possible factors were identified that contributed to a greater sharing of information between the Native Americans and the Californios in the post-Mission period. These were (1) more one-to-one interactions between the Californios and the Native Americans, (2) many of the Californios were mestizos whose mothers or grandmothers were Native Americans, and (3) lack of pressure on the part of the Californios to suppress Native American beliefs and medicinal practices.

[Beginning of modern stomatology education of China in later Qing dynasty]

In the 19th century, modern stomatology education were introduced into China with the impact of the west medicine and education. The apprenticeship of modern stomatology education were carried out by missionaries firstly, and then changed to dental schools established by the missionaries or foreigners, which was replaced partly by local Chinese dentists later and improved the development of modern Chinese stomatology education preliminarily.

[A study of the Polish missionary Michel Boym's pharmacy books]

Michel Boym was a 17th-century missionary who came to China from Poland. He was the first man who introduce Chinese herbal medicine to Europe by writing Flora Sinensis (Chinese Flora) and Medicamenta Simplicia quae Chinensibus ad usum medicum adhibentur. This article reveals that which Chinese herbal medicine books may have been consulted in the Medicamenta Simplicia quae Chinensibus ad usum medicum adhibentur by analyzing its content and comparing it with the Chinese herbal medicine books. We believed that in order to write this book, he consulted many Chinese books, collected a variety of herbal samples and consulted Chinese people who knew about herbals, and added his own understanding. As a western pharmacology book, his book structure, content and characteristics are the closest to Chinese herbal medicine books. And which Chinese books he has consulted, may include, but is not limited to BenCao GangMu(Compendium of Materia Medica)《》, Lei Gong Pao Zhi Yao Xing Jie 《》, Ben Cao Meng Quan《》 and Xin Kan Lei Gong Pao Zhi Bian Lan 《》.

Bob Kocher Believes (With Missionary Zeal) That Venture Capital Can Start To Cure What Ails American Health Care

This upbeat doctor-policymaker-entrepreneur sees opportunity where others see a federal policy train wreck these days. For instance, he's pleased that both political parties seem to endorse a shift from fee-for-service to value-based care. However, continuing uncertainty about the individual market may chill new investment in that area for a while.

[Introduction and development of modern western medicine into Chaoshan (Chaozhou-Shantou)area]

Shantou was opened officially in 1861. Willian Gauld, a doctor of British Presbyterian arrived in Shantou in 1863 topractisemedicine and missionary work, and set up the Medical Missionary Hospital. Since then, western medicine began to enter the Chaoshan area. Hereafter, the American Baptists, the Japanese Hakuai Society and the French Catholic Church also entered successively into the Chaoshan area, and the hospitals of western medicine were founded. At the same time, local organizations and individuals of the Chaoshan area also established western medical institutions. Chaoshan people had certain resistance to the transmission of Western medicine, which was obviously less than other places of the mainland. The reasons included not only the church hospital taking some measures to win the people's support, providing human health services, as well as the superiority of western medicine itself, but also the shortage of doctors and medicine in the Chaoshan area and thepeople's tolerance for foreign things. In addition to the provision of medical services in the hospital, the church hospital also set up medical education and trained a group of local medical talents. Although western medicine served as the pioneer of western religion into the Chaoshan area, it also brought advanced medical ideals, technology, equipment, and medical system, laying down the foundation for the development of western medicine in Chaoshan area.

[Foreign firms and dissemination of western medicine in China before the Opium War]

From the beginning of the 19th century to the Opium War, by taking the advantages of free entering and departing China, and to protect themselves, the foreign firms introduced vaccination technique into China. This is the beginning of the introduction of western medicine to China. After 1807, following the arrival of protestant missionaries, foreign firms became the stronghold for the missionaries to conceal their missionary status so as to propagate the principles of Christianity. With the aid of the business firms employee's legal identity, the missionaries started their activities of delivering western medicines and practices. Later, the business firms gained commercial profits through the subsidizing medical services and infiltration. Although western medicine objectively improved the medical conditions in China and promoted the modernization of Chinese health career, but it cast an important aspect of western aggression against China at the same time.

[Nursing career of Christianity church in China and its social influence]

Nursing is an important component of modern western medicine. Modern nursing was introduced into China by western missionaries. Modern nursing education promoted the establishment of professionalization of modern nursing in China, helped the development of western medicine and western hospitals, and exerted profound influences to the lifestyle modification and the independence and liberation of women.

[The changes of nurse uniform style in Pakhoi Po Yan Hospital in recent hundred year]

Nurse uniforms are the nurse's professional clothing, the main features of which are to keep clean and for easy identification. Culture consciousness has been added into nurse uniforms by people's behavior during the course of its application. Through the investigation on the historical materials of Pakhoi Po Yan Hospital (founded by Church Missionary Society in April 1886 in Pakhoi), it can be found that the nurse uniforms of different ages reflect the cultural background of the changes and the development of nursing career. This not only deduces the nurse culture and progress, but also reflects the continuation of nursing care, its responsibility and innovation.

[Historical origins between National Medical Association of China and Boji Hospital in Guangzhou]

In 2015, National Medical Association of China, now being called the Chinese Medical Association, celebrates its centennial and Boji Hospital in Guangzhou ( also known as Canton Hospital, or the Canton Pok Tsai Hospital, and now Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University ) marks its 180th anniversary. Three major historical events establish the role of Boji Hospital in the founding and development of the National Medical Association of China during the last 100 years, viz.: ①hosting and participating in the establishment of the Medical Missionary Association of China and its official journal: the China Medical Missionary Journal; ②holding the 11th scientific sessions of the National Medical Association of China; ③nominating Dr. Wu Lien-teh as a candidate for the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1935 by William Warder Cadbury, the president of Boji Hospital.

German wine in an American bottle: the spread of modern psychiatry in China, 1898-1949

Modern psychiatry was first introduced to mainland China around 1900 by Western missionaries. By 1949 the field had developed gradually as a result of contact with Western psychiatry and especially its American practitioners. This paper analyses the role played by key individuals and events in this process in the years prior to 1949. It argues that modern psychiatry was introduced to China through a process of cultural adaptation in which the USA served as a bridge for German thought.

Breakdown + Breakdown runners-up

Slow international response and missed opportunities to contain the outbreak make this year's Ebola epidemic Science 's breakdown of the year. Also, Breakthrough staff chose a few of this year's notable flaps, stumbles, and reverses as runners-up.

Cost-effectiveness of the "helping babies breathe" program in a missionary hospital in rural Tanzania

OBJECTIVE

The Helping Babies Breathe" (HBB) program is an evidence-based curriculum in basic neonatal care and resuscitation, utilizing simulation-based training to educate large numbers of birth attendants in low-resource countries. We analyzed its cost-effectiveness at a faith-based Haydom Lutheran Hospital (HLH) in rural Tanzania.

METHODS

Data about early neonatal mortality and fresh stillbirth rates were drawn from a linked observational study during one year before and one year after full implementation of the HBB program. Cost data were provided by the Tanzanian Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (MOHSW), the research department at HLH, and the manufacturer of the training material Lærdal Global Health.

FINDINGS

Costs per life saved were USD 233, while they were USD 4.21 per life year gained. Costs for maintaining the program were USD 80 per life saved and USD 1.44 per life year gained. Costs per disease adjusted life year (DALY) averted ranged from International Dollars (ID; a virtual valuta corrected for purchasing power world-wide) 12 to 23, according to how DALYs were calculated.

CONCLUSION

The HBB program is a low-cost intervention. Implementation in a very rural faith-based hospital like HLH has been highly cost-effective. To facilitate further global implementation of HBB a cost-effectiveness analysis including government owned institutions, urban hospitals and district facilities is desirable for a more diverse analysis to explore cost-driving factors and predictors of enhanced cost-effectiveness.

Healthcare and warfare. Medical space, mission and apartheid in twentieth century northern Namibia

In the year 1966, the first government hospital, Oshakati hospital, was inaugurated in northern South-West Africa. It was constructed by the apartheid regime of South Africa which was occupying the territory. Prior to this inauguration, Finnish missionaries had, for 65 years, provided healthcare to the indigenous people in a number of healthcare facilities of which Onandjokwe hospital was the most important. This article discusses these two agents' ideological standpoints. The same year, the war between the South-West African guerrillas and the South African state started, and continued up to 1988. The two hospitals became involved in the war; Oshakati hospital as a part of the South African war machinery, and Onandjokwe hospital as a 'terrorist hospital' in the eyes of the South Africans. The missionary Onandjokwe hospital was linked to the Lutheran church in South-West Africa, which became one of the main critics of the apartheid system early in the liberation war. Warfare and healthcare became intertwined with apartheid policies and aggression, materialised by healthcare provision based on strategic rationales rather than the people's healthcare needs. When the Namibian state took over a ruined healthcare system in 1990, the two hospitals were hubs in a healthcare landscape shaped by missionary ambitions, war and apartheid logic.

Resistance and religion: health care in Uganda, 1971-1979

This article situates women's roles in community health care during violence in Uganda in the 1970s. It examines the lived reality of Catholic missionary sister nurses, midwives, and physicians on the ground where sisters administered health care to local communities. The goal is to examine how religious women worked with local individuals and families in community health during periods of violence and war. Catholic sisters claimed to be apolitical, yet their mission work widened to include political issues. As they saw local Ugandans threatened, sisters engaged in political activities by their identification with and protection of "their people."

Pre-travel preparation of US travelers going abroad to provide humanitarian service, Global TravEpiNet 2009-2011

We analyzed characteristics of humanitarian service workers (HSWs) seen pre-travel at Global TravEpiNet (GTEN) practices during 2009-2011. Of 23,264 travelers, 3,663 (16%) travelers were classified as HSWs. Among HSWs, 1,269 (35%) travelers were medical workers, 1,298 (35%) travelers were non-medical service workers, and 990 (27%) travelers were missionaries. Median age was 29 years, and 63% of travelers were female. Almost one-half (49%) traveled to 1 of 10 countries; the most frequent destinations were Haiti (14%), Honduras (8%), and Kenya (6%). Over 90% of travelers were vaccinated for or considered immune to hepatitis A, typhoid, and yellow fever. However, for hepatitis B, 292 (29%) of 990 missionaries, 228 (18%) of 1,298 non-medical service workers, and 76 (6%) of 1,269 medical workers were not vaccinated or considered immune. Of HSWs traveling to Haiti during 2010, 5% of travelers did not receive malaria chemoprophylaxis. Coordinated efforts from HSWs, HSW agencies, and clinicians could reduce vaccine coverage gaps and improve use of malaria chemoprophylaxis.

The protestant medical missions to China: Dr Thomas Richardson Colledge (1796-1879) and the founding of the Macao Ophthalmic Hospital

A surgeon of the British East India Company, Dr Thomas Richardson Colledge, founded the Macao Ophthalmic Hospital in 1827. This was not only the first Western hospital ever opened in China for the purpose of bringing modern medicine to the Chinese but also the precursor of similar efforts of later medical missions in China. The gratifying results of this institute proved that employing Western medicine was an effective way to introduce Christianity to China and to open her door to the outside world. Though not a missionary himself, Colledge is rightfully regarded as the originator of medical missionaries to China.

The Protestant medical missions to China: the introduction of Western medicine with vaccination

Modern medicine in China began with the arrival of Anglo-American Protestant missionaries in the early 19th century. Conditions were vastly different from the times of the Jesuits in Peking during the 17th and 18th centuries, when the priests enjoyed the endorsement of the Court and high officials. Faced with hostile and xenophobic officialdom and populace, surgeons of the British East India Company in collaboration with missionaries took the initiative. In 1805 Dr Alexander Pearson (1780-1874) introduced smallpox vaccination in Macao and Canton. Reverend Dr Robert Morrison (1782-1834) of the London Missionary Society with another East India Company Surgeon, Dr John Livingstone (1829) opened a dispensary for the poor in Macao in 1820. These pioneers paved the way for later Anglo-American medical missionaries who revolutionized medical practice in China.

Indian hospitals and government in the colonial Andes

This article examines the reception of the early modern hospital among the indigenous people of the Andes under Spanish colonial rule. During the period covered by this study (sixteenth to mid-eighteenth centuries), the hospital was conceived primarily as a manifestation of the sovereign’s paternalistic concern for his subjects’ spiritual well being. Hospitals in the Spanish American colonies were organised along racial lines, and those catering to Indians were meant to complement the missionary endeavour. Besides establishing hospitals in the main urban centres, Spanish colonial legislation instituted hospitals for Indians in provincial towns and in small rural jurisdictions throughout the Peruvian viceroyalty. Indian hospitals often met with the suspicion and even hostility of their supposed beneficiaries, especially indigenous rulers. By conceptualising the Indian hospital as a tool of colonial government, this article investigates the reasons behind its negative reception, the work of adaptation that allowed a few of them to thrive, and the eventual failure of most of these institutions.

Dr Walter Henry Anderson (1870-1937) and the mission hospital at Safed, Palestine

Walter Henry Anderson, a brewer's clerk in Burton-upon-Trent, became a missionary doctor, supported by a society promoting welfare and evangelism in Jewish communities abroad. His family background was rich in pastoral ministry at home and adventure abroad. Arguably, this background played a part in his decision to serve the Jews of Safed. His life in Palestine entailed much enterprise and hardship as he raised a family, fought disease and set up a mission hospital serving not only the Jewish community but persons of all faiths. His years in Palestine, from 1894 to 1915, were times of peace in the Middle East before the turmoil unleashed by the Great War. Jews from the Diaspora were gaining an increasing foothold in Palestine, their 'Promised Land'. Themes of that era - the rise of Zionism, confrontation between Judaism and evangelical Christianity, conflict between immigrant Jew and Palestinian Arab and the remarkable travels of Lawrence of Arabia were interwoven with the lives of Dr Anderson and his family.

The 'Mandarin-missionary' strategy: Robert Kennicott, Spencer Fullerton Baird and specimen collection in the Hudson's Bay Territory

In 1859, Robert Kennicott, one of the most promising specimen collectors and young naturalists in the United States, was dispatched to Hudson's Bay Territory by Spencer Fullerton Baird, the Assistant Secretary of the Smithsonian. Kennicott was chosen because of previous experience in Canada, the familiarity with biota of the American Midwest, and because he had a boundless, infectious, enthusiasm for natural history that was typical among Baird's closest protégées. Kennicott was a natural scientific envoy--or missionary--to the officers of the Hudson's Bay Company, and many officers were enthusiastically 'converted' to the cause of collecting and/or overseeing the collection of natural history specimens. Due to this collaboration between Baird, Kennicott and the officers of the Hudson's Bay Company, the Smithsonian became a leading center of Canadian natural history in the Western hemisphere.

[Research on the hospital construction and structure in Daehan empire and colonial modern period]

It was the late Chosun Dynasty and Daehan Empire era that Western Medicine has firstly been introduced to Korea, previously operating on a basis of Korean traditional medicine. Western Medicine has been introduced by American missionary and Japanese Imperialism. An introduction of Western Medicine made it feasible to proceed new type medical care including operation, leading to require a new form of medical facilities. In the beginning, new facilities were constructed by Japanese Imperialism. Other hand many of facilities including Severance Hospital were established by missionaries. First of all, Daehan Empire established and managed a modern type of medical facility named "Jejoongwon" in 1885 as a government institution hospital. The Red Cross Hospital built in 1889. Afterwards, Jejoongwon and the Red Cross Hospital were taken over to missionary hospital and Japanese Imperialism, respectively. Japanese Imperialists firstly have protected their nationals residing in Chosun but have proceeded care a few Chosun people to exploit medical treatment as a mean to advertise superiority of the Empire of Japan. The facility that has firstly been established and managed was Jeseang Hospital in Busan in 1877, leading to establish in Wonju, Wonsan, and Mokpo. Afterwards, Japan has organized "Donginhoi" as a civil invasion organization, leading for "Donginhoi" to established "Dongin Hospital" in Pyeongyang, Daegu, and Seoul. Since 1909, governmental leading medical facility named Jahye Hospital was established according to an imperial order, leading to establish 32 hospitals all over the nation. American missionaries have established and managed 28 hospitals started from Severance Hospital built in 1904. However, Chosun doctors started to having educated and opening up their own hospital since 1920, leading for many of medical facilities to be established, but most of them have taken different roles followed by 6.25 War and economic development period. However, some of them are currently under protection as cultural assets, and some of them are now preserved. Buildings have originally been structured of wood as a single story in the beginning, but bricks started to be steadily used, leading to build two story building. Each of clinic department started to be separated since 1920, establishing operation room and treatment room. Now, a change of perception as to buildings that need to be preserved and an attention from government and doctors are required since modern medical facilities keep disappearing.

Special people? An exploratory study into re-entering missionaries' identity and resilience

Home country re-entry from cross-cultural missionary work abroad may be associated with psychological distress. Re-entrants experience multiple losses including loss of identity which may be associated with personal/relational identity gaps and depersonalization/dehumanization. However, research suggests that some re-entrants are resilient with good mental health, while others are fragile with poor mental health. The aims of this paper are to explore the nature and frequency of re-entering missionaries' identity gaps and their depersonalization/dehumanization in resilient and fragile re-entrants. Fifteen re-entering adult Australian cross-cultural missionary workers from four interdenominational Australian mission organizations completed semi-structured interviews. Results were analysed using modified Consensual Qualitative Research methods. Links were established between personal/relational identity gaps, depersonalization/dehumanization and resilience on re-entry. Implications for re-entrants' care are discussed with suggestions for further research.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Dengue virus infections among travelers returning from Haiti--Georgia and Nebraska, October 2010

In October 2010, a Nebraska clinician notified the state's Central District Health Department (CDHD) of a cluster of dengue-like illnesses in six of 28 missionary workers from Nebraska and Georgia who recently had returned after 7-11 days in Haiti. Infection with the mosquito-transmitted dengue virus (DENV) later was confirmed by laboratory testing in seven persons, five of whom were hospitalized. CDHD, the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services (NDHHS), the Georgia Department of Public Health (GDPH), and CDC conducted a retrospective cohort study to assess the pretravel dengue knowledge and mosquito-avoidance practices of those with and without laboratory-confirmed infection. This report describes the results of that study, which indicated that 90% of those in the study had a pretravel health-care appointment, 57% sought travel advice on the Internet, and 24% used mosquito repellent several times a day; neither pretravel knowledge nor mosquito-avoidance practices were significantly associated with absence of DENV infection. Clinicians should be vigilant for dengue among travelers returning from Haiti and other areas where DENV is endemic or likely to be endemic and should report suspected cases of dengue to public health authorities.

Discovering the African freshwater "torpedo": legendary Ethiopia, religious controversies, and a catfish capable of reanimating dead fish

The electric catfishes of African rivers and lakes, once depicted on Egyptian tomb art, have been largely overlooked in histories and reviews of electric fish biology and animal electricity. This article examines how Westerners, especially Dominican and Jesuit missionaries, discovered them in Ethiopia and other parts of Africa at the beginning of the seventeenth century. What transpired took place against the backdrop of tales involving the Bible, Prester John's mythical empire, and imaginary animals with fabulous powers. In effect, how they were found is related to attempts to convert Ethiopian Christians to true Catholicism, hopes of discovering great riches, and opportunities to trade, and not with the efforts of skilled natural philosophers to document and conduct experiments on the wildlife of this continent. Nevertheless, the early descriptions by Europeans circulated, and during the next century these catfishes began to be used in experiments that helped to make animal electricity a reality.

Medical missionaries to China: the Jesuits

The 15th and 16th centuries saw a religious revival in Europe and an increased interest in church missions. With geographical discoveries supported by strong monarchies in Spain, Portugal and later France, Catholic missions and in particular the Society of Jesus resumed the spread of Christianity to China. Convinced that it was wise policy to address themselves to the most influential upper classes, the Jesuits under the leadership of Father Matteo Ricci became friendly with the aristocrats and the intelligentsia. The Jesuits introduced Western scientific ideas into China and even practised medicine. Between periods of adversity and persecutions, Chinese emperors who valued them for their scientific expertise generally tolerated their missionary activities. Any lasting influence on Chinese culture was limited.

Surgical relief work in Haiti: a practical resident learning experience

INTRODUCTION

A once-a-year, week-long surgical missionary trip to Haiti has become incorporated into our residency experience on a voluntary basis since 2007. The purpose of this article is to describe our experience with this mission effort during the last 4 years.

METHODS

Since 2007, at least one PGY 3-5 surgical resident from our program has traveled to the Hôpital Sacré Coeur in Milot, Haiti for a voluntary, week-long surgical mission working with the local health care providers. Their personal and clinical experiences in Haiti, in the surgical clinics, and in the operating room, were recorded.

RESULTS

Since 2007, 6 surgical residents and members of the surgical staff have traveled to Haiti for this surgical mission. During that time, a total of 247 patients were observed in the clinic and 184 surgical cases were performed. The case distribution covered a wide range of defined categories, including head and neck, breast, hernia, abdominal, biliary, stomach, small and large bowel, colorectal, skin and soft tissue, and urology. The personal aspect of this experience could not be quantitated but was profound.

CONCLUSIONS

We feel that the surgical missionary trip to Haiti is an asset to our program. It provides humanitarian surgical care to patients in need, teaching and infrastructure support to the local health care providers, a clinical and operative experience to our residents, and an invaluable personal experience.